


fair fight

by justlikeswitchblades



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Day At The Beach, Haizaki Shougo/Kagami Taiga - Freeform, KNBxNBA, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 14:16:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15583761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justlikeswitchblades/pseuds/justlikeswitchblades
Summary: a day at the beach / talking about the future





	fair fight

**Author's Note:**

> been a hot minute, huh?
> 
> feeling good about this one :)
> 
> taking place the summer after [ours](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/devils_shuu/works/11997684)

Tatsuya lost track of when Shuuzou first fell asleep.

Maybe it was when Shuuzou had stopped acknowledging his comments about the odd beachgoer, or his suggestions about where to go for lunch on the boardwalk. His laughter, his quips in response, his own cravings first turning into more muddled noises, then nothing at all, deep breaths turning steady, alternating with the sounds of the waves on the shore.

Maybe Tatsuya passed out earlier himself; his head feels muddled, like he's just woken up. Maybe the heat’s getting to him, even under the umbrella; more likely, the six-pack they've been making their way through is getting to him, but that’s just the beer doing its job.

He sits up and reaches into the cooler for a Corona, scanning the sand for the bottle opener on Shuuzou’s keys. The cap pops quietly, and he settles onto his side again. His eyes go to Shuuzou, asleep atop his towel, sunglasses and Devils cap askew. He looks peaceful even with his wristwatch pressing into his cheek, the same way he does after really good games, when he’s dealing out assists like candy on Halloween, maybe leading with a goal of his own or two. Limbs leaden after playing shifts at the pace a man a decade younger than him would, about to snore like a motorcycle roaring down the highway, undisturbed by the moments when Tatsuya wakes up, anxiety wriggling like a fish on a line in his brain, tense, wary of the idea of pain in his knee.

Tatsuya tries his best to not wake Shuuzou on those nights. He’d hate to rob him of that kind of sleep now, but…it’s barely noon.

“Jesus!” Shuuzou jolts awake, his shoulder blades pulling back, his cap tumbling into the sand. His hand flies to the back of his neck, mopping at the condensation. Tatsuya looks at him from behind his sunglasses, nursing his beer. Shuuzou curls his lip like a dog about to growl, and shoves at the middle of Tatsuya’s chest.

“Ass.”

“What?” Tatsuya falls back, his mouth wide in a grin. Shuuzou jams his hat back on, backwards this time. He flips his sunglasses up on top of it, and lies back down with a huff, hands behind his head. The brim of his hat presses into the towel; it tips a little further back.

“I was enjoying my nap.”

“Yeah, maybe a little too much.” Tatsuya snorts, taking another drink. “Trust me, it was for your own good.”

“I could’ve woken up on my own,” Shuuzou protests.

“You were gone,” Tatsuya emphasizes with a grin. Shuuzou rolls his eyes; struggling to fight a smile back.

Tatsuya smiles at him a beat longer; his gaze drops from Shuuzou’s face, to the curve of his delts, his biceps, then to his middle, the way his abs seem to soften almost immediately come summer. Tatsuya lifts his hand, thumb skimming the faint line of muscle; Shuuzou’s core goes tense, but his expression relaxes. His hand goes to Tatsuya’s knee, fingering the black fabric of his brace before he pushes his hand forward, closing around Tatsuya’s kneecap. Tatsuya closes his eyes, fully prepared to react. 

It doesn’t come. His shoulders drop; he settles back. The line of tension between them pulls taut when a kid runs by their towel, kicking up. Both of them look at each other, sharing a stiff laugh. Shuuzou’s eyes follow the boy down to the water.

“Do you want to have kids?”

Tatsuya looks at Shuuzou. 

“With you, or in general?”

Shuuzou exhales.

“With me.”

Tatsuya sits up; Shuuzou’s hand falls from his knee. He squints as he takes his sunglasses off; it’s still bright underneath the umbrella. Shuuzou looks back at him, weighing his expression. He turns his hand, palm up.

“I don’t know,” Tatsuya heaves his shoulder with a sigh. “Means we’d have to get married.”

“Yeah,” Shuuzou sits up, bumping Tatsuya’s shoulder with his own. “Make it harder for you to break up with me.”

“Yeah,” Tatsuya laughs. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Shuuzou grins a little wider, then his expression falls. Hard, with gravity. 

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” Tatsuya exhales, his breath pulled away by the tide. “Like. I don’t see any reason why we would break up. But that kind of commitment…” 

Shuuzou nods, lacing his fingers through Tatsuya’s. “You’d probably marry me if I were basketball.”

Tatsuya laughs. “If you were basketball.”

“Yeah!” Shuuzou laughs. “You've been playing it since you were a kid. You drag your own body kicking and screaming into playing casual games even now. I'm not saying I'm jealous, but.”

Tatsuya raises his eyebrows.

“But?”

Shuuzou shrugs, acknowledging the question with a lift of his hand. “I know it’s different, like me and hockey. But it’s still something, you know?”

“Shuu, I don’t want you to be like that with me and basketball.” He jostles his leg. “You don’t have to anymore.”

“Tatsuya.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Tatsuya splays his hands. “Self-depreciation, I know. It’s just--I know we’ve been heading this way.”

“It’s not like I’m about to propose soon, if that’s any help.”

“That’s what I keep thinking about,” Tatsuya explains. “ _I_ want to propose. I need you to know I'm committed to you.”

“Tatsuya…”

The comment comes from a place that’s still a little bit twisted and bitter; Shuuzou has to know that. Still, he’s touched to a level that his face contorts, almost like he's in pain. Tatsuya closes his eyes; he can feel Shuuzou's breath on his cheek. His thoughts start to race; they're not out. He could care less for the resulting attention. But slightly hidden away here, if Shuuzou went for it, he--

Shuuzou sighs. Tatsuya watches him turn away through half-closed eyes. He listens to the last syllable of “fuck” click on Shuuzou’s tongue, and exhales a sigh of his own.

“Shuu.”

“The way Taiga and Shougo are...we don't have to be like that.”

“No, we don’t have to,” Tatsuya agrees. “But do you want to?”

Shuu sighs again, his shoulders slumping.

“Shuu, what are we going to do if we get married? If we have kids? Have no one at our ceremony? Not interact with other parents?”

“Tatsuya--”

“You can't _Tatsuya_ me! These are things we need to figure out. Things we need to stop pushing off for later.”

“Before or after we get married?”

“Okay, fair,” Tatsuya concedes through his teeth. “I know where you’re coming from here.”

“Damn it.” Shuuzou takes his hat off, combing his fingers through his hair. He looks at Tatsuya, squinting, examining him. “It's not like I'm not proud. I'm not unhappy. But with a year left in the league, I have to serve as an example--”

Tatsuya snorts. “Of what, corrosive masculinity?”

“Hey, it's not like you came out when you were still playing.”

Tatsuya raises his eyebrows, gesturing at his knee. Shuuzou backs down.

“You could make a difference, Shuu,” Tatsuya continues. “Even with all my bias...I really think you could.”

Shuuzou looks out at the shore, pensive.

“I've gotten questions about it before, with the rainbow stuff and all,” He tells Tatsuya. “I guess I'm worried about the people that'll say ‘ _Oh, I knew_ ’, make it less significant, you know?”

“Lots of people say stuff to make themselves look smart. Doesn't mean they're right.”

Shuuzou makes a noise in his throat, not quite ready to be swayed. He picks his empty beer bottle up from where it's toppled over in the sand, idly rolling it between his hands.

“Wanna go home, skate a little?”

Shuuzou’s frown deepens. “Not yet.”

“Kids,” Tatsuya declares as he changes the subject, lying back on his towel. “Biological, or adopted?”

“Uhh,” Shuuzou stalls, startled by the switch. “Biological, I guess?”

“You guess?”  
“Kids with your genes would be a little _too_ charming,” Shuuzou explains, smiling a little.

“You say that like it's a bad thing.” Tatsuya snorts. “You don't let me get away with much.”

“I let you get away with _enough_ ,” Shuuzou grins, playfully shoving at Tatsuya, who fights him off.

“Talk shit about me all you want, but weren't you one of those delinquents when you were in school in Japan? Can't say you're any better.”

“I had a heart of gold.”

Tatsuya’s smile melts into something softer, sweeter. “Still do, if you ask me.”

Shuuzou dips his head, his forehead grazing Tatsuya's shoulder, heat coming from his skin. He has half a mind to think that it isn't just the sun getting to his cheeks.

“Though, biologically,” Tatsuya continues, “I know there's a vetting process and all, but it's weird to think about some woman being pregnant with your kid.”

“Well, when you boil it down like that.” Shuuzou squints, looking behind Tatsuya. “Beer me?”

Tatsuya sits up and stretches, dragging the cooler in. He passes Shuuzou a beer.

“It'll probably feel more intimate when I jerk you off in the bathroom for your sperm sample.”

“God,” Shuuzou nearly chokes. Tatsuya smiles against the lip of his beer bottle.

“I’m serious! You'd think I'd be happy just sitting in the waiting room otherwise?”

“That's fair.”

“And I guess...it’d probably feel more like our kid that way, instead of just yours.”

“Hey.” Shuu's voice softens; he nudges Tatsuya. “It's not like I'm opposed to raising your kids, you know?”

“I'm sure,” Tatsuya smiles. “But the idea of raising a Nijimura hockey dynasty is much more appealing.”

“What, you don't want to be one of those famous basketball dads that has a 16 year old kid vying for the NBA?”

“Yeah, I'd love to have my kid be better at basketball than I am.” Tatsuya snorts.

“Hey.”

“It’s a risk!” Tatsuya shrugs. “But the idea of you jerking _me_ off in a fertility clinic bathroom is sweet.”

Shuu presses his shoulder to Tatsuya's, leaning on him. There’s something in his eyes that says he wants to wrap his arms around Tatsuya, kiss him, roll around with him in the sand--from the way he's grinning, Tatsuya can tell Shuuzou knows.

‘ _I love you_ ,’ Shuuzou mouths, and is still as Tatsuya takes his hat off, shielding their faces as he leans in for a kiss. It’s little more than a brush of their lips, soft and subtle. He runs his hand over the goosebumps on Shuuzou's forearm when he pulls back.

“What about adoption?” Tatsuya asks, warmth in his voice, offering Shuuzou's hat back to him. Shuuzou holds it in his hand, not moving from his place at Tatsuya’s side.

“I'm not opposed,” Shuuzou answers, staring at Tatsuya's lips.

“But?”

Shuuzou bumps Tatsuya's shoulder. “But I want to have a kid with you.”

Tatsuya grins, wordless. He bumps Shuuzou back.

“Courthouse wedding,” Tatsuya announces, reaching for his beer. “Or destination?”

“I thought we weren't talking about marriage?”

Tatsuya swallows, shrugging. “Humor me.”

“Well…courthouse would be enough to get the job done. But my mom would probably kill me if I didn't have a ceremony.”

“As would Shougo,” Tatsuya snorts. “He'd plan something for us one way or another.”

“Not the worst idea,” Shuuzou nods. “Don't you want Taiga to be your best man, like you were his?”

“Fuck,” Tatsuya sighs, lying back. “You didn't have to go and appeal to my sentimental side like that.”

Shuuzou grins. “I have to be the asshole too sometimes, you know.” Tatsuya gives him a look behind his sunglasses, chewing on his words.

“I’m not saying yes,” Tatsuya says. “But I’m also not saying no.”

Shuuzou smiles. He looks from Tatsuya to the shore, then twists and reaches for the family-sized bag of chips they brought with them. Tatsuya's eyes follow him.

“What?” Shuuzou asks. “I'll share.”

Tatsuya nods. His fingers pass over the inside of Shuuzou's wrist when he settles back down.

“Lunch soon?”

Shuuzou grins, popping open the bag of chips. “Before or after I ruin my appetite?”

Tatsuya smiles back, pulling a chip from the bag. “There's always room for more.”


End file.
